Magic Magic Everywhere

This continues to be the main source of concern for me so far. I do need to enforce Brian using signature spells, because he has a tendency to try and magic anything that pops into his head. Still, it needs work. I've been brainstorming this evening trying to come up with some alternate strategies to deal with it and make it interesting. If anyone has suggestions, feel free.

Alpha game 2

Everyone had a blast tonight. I made some changes to some basic premises of the game - ability scores always give a positive modifier, so I had to raise the DC of just about everything by 5.

In tonight's story, Isaac - the son of a rich noble, but weak and gullible in his eyes - was conned not once, but twice by the beautiful Zatina. Jess was arrested for running out on his debts after Isaac unwittingly led a bounty hunter back to the inn. His debt was paid off by the mysterious Mr. Haron, who now holds the key to Jess' future. Capernius "the Just" (aka Capernius the Gullible after the situation with Zatina) made some inroads with the Templars of Valar and the group found work - the first job being an elaborate con by Zatina that made them the patsies for her crime, the second a boat headed north for an expedition into newly discovered ruins. Luckily, the boat was leaving the morning after the Zatina situation.

The mysterious deaths of clergy continued and they finally put a name to the threat - a bean sidhe, legendary harbinger of death native to the Breen highlands, Demetrius' homeland.

The high point of the evening from a gaming perspective was the beliefs. I'm going to work on them some more, but right now the group is using the concept right out of Burning Wheel.

Isaac believes his father was a weak man and a failure, even to the point where he believes he may be illegitimate. He also believes greatness can be achieved through daring a guile and he must do everything to escape his father's shadow. The temptress and grifter, Zatina, was a good tool to bring forth Isaac's own shortcomings and force him to face it. It worked really well and he is really engaged with the character and his love/hate interest, Zatina.

Demetrius also has father problems - he is trying to escape the long shadow his father casts over him and prove that the sins of his father do not reflect on him. His problems stem from his homeland and he is being dragged deeper and deeper into who his people are, their strange beliefs, and the mysteries going on through two siblings, Haldis and Kaelin, that he keeps seeing all over town.

Jesseldar Gianas, or Jess, cannot see beyond the shine of the coin. He believes he can run from any debt and that money is the end, not just a means. The bounty hunter with an Imperial Warrant immediately brought him into a situation that was close to his character's center and the paying off of the debt by a mysterious crime lord embroils him further into dangerous territory.

Capernius is consumed by the church and has, almost on his own, been investigating the murder of the priest and several other clergy members since he has been in town. He believes that he has been chosen by God for some special purpose and is pretty self-driving in that respect. His interactions with church members are always very interesting from a story perspective.

Aren has been the most difficult so far, but I think that has been more of a timing issue than anything else. He is another character who believes he has been "chosen" for greater things - instead of the Lord of the Valarian church, it is by the spirits of Silea, his homeland. He is actively searching for the culprit who is trying to destroy his home at the behest of his spirit guides.

It's a nice mechanic that really brings the characters in the game and it really worked out well from a storytelling perspective. I had a few ideas of things I wanted to do tonight, but mostly it was working with the various beliefs and getting them on a roll.

Alpha game 1

The game went OK. These are the characters as of right now:

• Capernius (Scott), an initiate of the Prelacy of Valar from Amara. He is a level 2 Spellsword loosely in the service of the church (he believes he has been chosen by God, although the church doesn't actually recognize him as such).
• Jess (Matt), a wizard of the Guild Moryan, traveling to avoid his various debtors and seeking his fortune by any means necessary. He is a level 2 wizard.
• Demetrius (Rich), a lvl 2 hunter from the outlands of Breen who is seeking his past by finding out who, and what, his father was.
• Isaac (Brian D), a brash nobleman from the Empire who is seeking to overshadow his father and make a name for himself. He is a level 2 fighter.
• Aren (Brian C) is a level 2 sorcerer from the Silean wilds who believes the spirits of the forest chose him as a savior from those who are currently seeking to destroy his homeland.

We went through some basic combat and magic as they were aboard a ship headed to the free port of Tycho. I have a few adjustments to make before next game:

• Lower the magic DC from 15 to 10.
  
• Go over the alpha rules to clear up some text and eliminate some errors.
  
• Clarify the magic rules a bit. Tighten them up.
  
• Maybe fiddle with the combat mechanic - perhaps introduce a vitality threshold where damage goes into wounds.

Alpha Playtest

The rules are to a point to where I am now playtesting them with my gaming group.

It's funny, because I have advanced beyond so many of my previous posts and ideas that they seem kind of alien at this point. Anyway, I'll keep a log of how the playtest is going.

We did some basic character stuff this past Monday (the 10th of July) and the guys are getting used to the changes in the rules. I'm talking with a very talented artist right now and I hope to have some headway in that arena soon. More later.

Origins

The Con went well. I had a lot of fun and met lots of interesting people. The coolest game I saw and played was Artesia, which won the Best RPG Award at the show. The game is gorgeous and the author/artist, Mark Smylie, is really cool. I also managed to pick up a copy of Burning Wheel from Indie Press Revolution. Brennan Taylor, the guy who runs IPR, played Artesia with me on Friday night. I met him the year before and he's a pretty cool guy.

I also met Aaron Acevedo, Andy Hopp, and Sean Preston at a party thrown by Sean Patrick Fannon (who I know from back when he was trolling around Raleigh). A good time was had by all. I also came away with some good ideas for changes in my design, so that is moving forward as well. I hope to have the Alpha rules done by the end of the month.

Life

Real life has taken precedence for a while. After tonight my time should start to clear up a bit. I've made significant progress, but haven't had the time to update. I plan on rectifying that, especially after Origins at the end of the month.

Magic

I'm sticking to a blend of Elements of Magic (Revised) for the magic system. I've made a few changes, but overall I think it will work well. If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it. It's published by ENPublishing (of Enworld) and is a nice alternative magic system.

Damage and Endurance

I've decided to tie magic into endurance, a stat (like hit points or vitality, although I'm not using hit points) easily managed during the game. A lot of this ties into the damage accounting system I'll be using too. I'll explain it as clearly as I can without doing a full rules review.
Damage (above) is charted on a little graph easily tracked on a character sheet. The penalties listed are to attack, defense, skill checks, saving throws, ability checks, etc. When a person reaches "Mortal", they make a saving throw each round they take damage to see if they are dying or flat out dead.
Endurance is also charted like this. Whereas every character has a Toughness score that mitigates incoming damage (modified by armor, etc.), every character also has an Endurance score or vitality pool. When this pool is expended (round of combat, extra exertion, spellcasting) it bleeds over into the chart. The penalties incurred are the same, but when the character reaches Exhausted, they make a save to avoid being stunned or unconscious.

I'm happy with how it is looking so far and I believe I may be ready to do some serious alpha testing with it soon. It has the feel I'm looking for. The endurance system can be incorporated into a lot of interesting ideas for combat and general use.

For instance, theoretical combat has some elements of simulationist gaming and some elements of narrative gaming.

I'm thinking, currently (so subject to change) that each attack and defense roll a character makes will cost 1 Endurance. So someone who is being harried by multiple attackers is more likely to tire first. This way you don't have to keep track of consecutive penalties (-1 per extra attacker) or anything like that - it's easily tracked.

Certain abilities may also have an endurance cost, not just casting spells. Maybe something like power attack (since with the relative degree mechanic it is rendered somewhat impotent) could be an endurance for damage tradeoff. Combat movement will probably also cost endurance, so it will build up quickly. Recovering is fairly easy (a round of rest will get you back some) but it does require some thought as to how you would go about your plan.

A character's endurance pool is easily replenished, but penalties from going overboard take more time. Therefore, someone with 18 endurance can go hard and become winded (maybe 2 blocks in), rest for a few rounds to regain their endurance, but still be considered winded (the penalty remains). They are "catching their breath", although they remain tired still.

Dealing with magic, this allows someone to cast indefinitely if they have the time and space to do so - as long as they can rest relatively short periods of time between spells, they'll be alright. It is far too easy, however, with high powered magic to become tired and start taking penalties. The endurance costs are very high and will cause problems. I'm still working out the specifics, but the concept is solid.

Thinking outside the box

Too many magic systems are outside of the normal rules. That is to say you have a base mechanic that works a certain way (attack/skill system for D20 for instance) and your magic system works differently (spell slot with saving throws). Some systems are a bit more unified, but most have magic as being completely separate from the rest of the character.

Why?

I've seen some systems use a skill or pseudo-skill system for magic, which is not a bad idea but still seems a little off. I was brainstorming the other day and came up with an interesting idea.

What if a character's magic abilities were feats that allowed him to modify his base abilities. Specifically, say your magic allows you to modify your bluff skill outside of "normal" boundaries.

With bluff, you can convince someone of a lie or trick them. With bluff backed by magic, you can convince them of things they would never believe normally, fascinate them into a stupor, or any number of things. Magic-backed intimidate could cause fear and panic, decipher script could allow you to read dead or alien languages, Gather Information could allow you to commune with spirits for ancient lore, etc.

The point is that magic becomes a seamless part of the skill system. The mechanic from that point could be similar to the base - d20+modifier (even a skill) vs. DC.

This puts a premium on skills, which is what wizards were supposed to be about. They were wise men who valued knowledge. If someone wants to turn lead into gold, instead of learning a transmutation spell, they take ranks in Craft (Alchemy). The magic allows them to increase their skill bonus to perform things that would otherwise be improbable.

Therefore, if a wizard needs to perform a dangerous spell on a demon, he would either need to know about demons already or go research it.

There would be higher magics as well - basically new feats that allow him to modify skills in new ways and ones that allow him basic powers that he could use with effort.

I really loathe spell memorization and want to get away from that. Wizards should be powerful because of their knowledge and skill, not because they have two wish spells memorized, or they have a ring that gives them three extra fireballs per day.

Balancing world & rules

So a few questions for any readers out there:

What should be the intial balances of rules v worldbook in the initial release?
How integrated should the rules be into the worldbook?
Should they be completely separate parts of the book, a la Castle Falkenstein?
How much of the rules should depend on the use of Esaene as the game world?

Just some random musings as we wait for Chris's next big burst of creativity...

Story theories

I will start GMing a game of Mutants and Masterminds soon with my normal gaming group. I haven't run a game in some time and I was going to try out a lot of the story and theme ideas I have read about on many sites, as well as some basic story structure elements I have read about while persuing my dream of fiction writing.

We'll see how it goes. I'm curious to see how the fiction structure will compliment or clash when you have multiple points of view all shouldering each other aside for screen time. It will have to be managed.

Base class

I had a thought today. Instead of everyone choosing a "standard" class like Fighter, Wizard, Bard, etc. - everyone chooses a base class that represents where they came from. This could be noble, artisan, commoner, outsider, warrior, etc. - they get a basic package of skills and saving throws then they continue on to whatever prestige class they like - be it soldier, knight, wizard, sorcerer, etc. Racial classes can also be substituted in for characters who have a certain upbringing, like dwarves.

Just a thought. I'm curious if anyone has an opinion.

Themes, too

Continuing on Chris's idea of underlying themes, there are some things I was always big on with the original conception of Esaene.

1. History - there are a few 'big' stories that underlie the world and much of them are considered to be 'folk legends'. However, there are elements of truth in every fairy tale and legend, and separating fact from fiction can unlock some powerful secrets.

2. History, 2 - Everything has a story. That "longsword +1" in the pile of treasure is really the finely-crafted 9th blade of Ythifir the Black, one of the dozen he created for the Guardians of Perisis. It is distinguishable by it's off-center hilt, balanced for left-handed users (which all Guardians were) and the Illusin engraving on the blade. Such a finely-balanced blade moves with the wielder, giving him or her an edge in combat. Usually, stories like that are reserved for the Vorpal Bastard Sword +4/+6 vs Nocturnal Lycanthropes.

3. Motivations - No grand good vs evil story here. Everyone has a reason to do what they do, and people with perfectly legitimate reasons for pursuing their life's goals may often find themselves at cross-purposes. Chris highlighted that alignment is not a major factor. More important to me, people have to have a reason for doing what they're doing, instead of the wishy-washy "that's what my alignment would have me do."

4. Magic - A strange and wondrous thing. Even hedge wizards are treated with great reverence, once the crowd believes that it's not a sleight-of-hand trick.

5. Separation - There's no 'line in the sand' at the edge of the king's lands. But the distance from this land to that land is pretty vast when you have to spend 4 nights in "Injun country" to get there. Adventurers are treated in high regard but are very rare; merchants bringing wares from another land are also treated with great reverence for having travelled beyond the next two hills.

As Chris had previously noted - comments are welcome & encouraged.

Theme

Brant and I have been discussing story and theme for the Esaene setting lately. He has already published Esaene under his own rules several years back, but if I'm writing this thing I wanted a bit more creative control. We've decided that, instead of making everything in the world of Esaene, we're going to start with a specific place and work out from there.

Anyway, the themes are not well defined in the game as is. Brant's original idea was exploration and political struggle. I have a lot of ideas, but they need to be fully developed.

Themes

• Boundaries - the area between civilization and the wild is a thin line and one that should be examined. Where does civilization stop and nature begin? What are the problems encountered when they come into conflict?


• Consequences - There is no alignment in this game. There are plenty of sides and factions who believe they are right. Sometimes they both are. Each action has consequences and no one lives in a vacuum.


• Struggle - Conflict is always a theme and should always remain - Religious and political ideologies, mercantile wars, limited resources. Everyone is at odds for one reason or another, with the players inevitably in the middle. Peace is boring.


• Fantasy - Magic and wonder are still important parts to the game, but they come with their dangers. Fairy tales, tragedies, and myths should all have parts. The fantastic should not overshadow the characters though.

Those are the overriding themes as I see it. Anyone have any suggestions or critique?

Mechanics

I've been working on an overreaching mechanic for the system. The Grim'n'Gritty revised and simplified by Ken Hood is a nice system that makes combat very lethal and nasty. The mechanic is very nice and also can be used to streamline other parts of the game, so the mechanics do not get in the way of the story.

The critical mechanic used in the system is a little similar in the set up to what I already have, but the execution at the end is much better.

The base threat range for any weapon (or check) is 10. If you exceed your target number by 10 or more, you threaten a critical - just like rolling a 20 in D&D. Instead of doing extra damage, you can select critical effects with a modifier to the confirmation roll.

Example (Normal D&D vs. Modified GnG)

• Fighter with Longsword (19-20, x2) - if he rolls a 19-20 on a d20, he threatens a critical and has to only hit the base Armor Class to confirm it - doing double damage (x2).


• Fighter with Longsword (8/+0) - if the fighter exceeds his target by 8 or more, he threatens a critical. He may select multiple maneuvers with modifiers, such as Disable Arm (-4) and roll his confirmation check at -4. If successful, the target makes a saving throw or has his arm disabled. The +0 is a modifier to the saving throw. High impact weapons, like picks, are harder to make a successful save against.

This can be further extrapolated to other checks.

Skills: Craft (Weapon) - if the user makes his check by 10, he can attempt to craft a masterwork item with a modifier. This is bounded by material costs, of course.
Magic: Power check - if the caster makes his check by 10, he can add metamagic or additional effects to the spell.

Grim n' Gritty

I've been looking over Ken Hood's revised Grim'n'Gritty combat rules. Very nice stuff. I may incorporate more into the game. I want combat to be streamlined as much as possible.

Keys/Flags

I've been reading a lot of indie game design blogs lately and there is a lot of great material out there. Here is a great example:

Flag Framing - this is pretty much how the key system works, except I'm tying it into experience and level progression. It is then both an informal-structure role-playing tool and a formal level-progression tool.

The key system is something that Brant, the original designer of Esaene 1st Edition, was really adamant about and I agree with him. It gives both the player and the GM a focus for character development and role-playing. It also covers some fundamental issues with level progression in standard D&D. In theory, a player can choose to take a level of wizard out of the blue. Sure, GMs sometimes will mutter something about finding a tutor, but there is nothing specifically in the rules that says they can't do it.

To advance a level in Esaene, you need the requisite "life" experience (experience points) as well as personal growth (goal achievement). Each level a player must accomplish five goals.

Two of these goals are required - a class goal (meaning an accomplishment that reflects the class you wish to attain. It could be something simple like training or combat for a warrior, or something as extensive as achieving a certain level in a specific skill. In that case, for instance, you may not be ready to train in a specific class until you take the time elsewhere to learn the basics).

The other required goal is a key goal - essentially, the character must deal with a difficult task concerning a key. If the key is, for instance, "Sir Reginald upholds the code of chivalry", then dealing with a situation where that Code is questioned or Sir Reginald has to uphold the Code even when he doesn't want to would qualify. Since keys are player-defined, it allows the player to interject what he or she wants to see in the game as a real mechanic with consequences.

Short break

I'm taking a short break to refresh and come back to the material clean.

Monster Redesign: The Basilisk

Transferring some (but not all) creatures from the SRD to the new rules has been interesting. I've made some other changes just based on personal tastes. Take the Basilisk, for instance. What is the purpose of turning an opponent into stone? Do they eat stone? It always seemed odd to me. It makes more sense, from my viewpoint, that the turning to stone is more of a folk tale to explain some odd behavior rather than reality.

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Basilisk
Medium Fey (Magical Beast)
Hit Dice: 6 (34 wounds, 7 toughness)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 20 ft.
Defense: 12 (+3 Base, -1 Dexterity)
Protection: 3 (Natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+8
Attack: +6 Bite (1d8+3)
Full Attack: +6 Bite (1d8+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Petrifying Gaze*
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Lowlight Vision, Natural Camouflage**
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +3, Will +3
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 8, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 11
Skills: Perception +9, Sneak +5 (+9**), Survival +7
Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fighting, Great Fortitude
Environment: Warm desert
Organization: Solitary or colony (3-6)
Challenge Rating: TBD
Treasure: Only in nest
Advancement: 7-10 HD (Medium); 11-18 HD (Large)

A basilisk is a reptilian monster that stuns living creatures with a mere gaze. A basilisk usually has a dull brown body with a yellowish underbelly. Some specimens sport a short, curved horn atop the nose. An adult basilisk’s body grows to about 6 feet long, not including its tail, which can reach an additional length of 5 to 7 feet. The creature weighs about 300 pounds. The stunning effect lasts long enough for the basilisk to devour its prey whole. Small treasure and items are excreted near its lair.

Basilisks are very territorial and only coexist with other Basilisks to mate.

Combat
A basilisk relies on its gaze attack, biting only when opponents come within reach. Though it has eight legs, its slow metabolism renders it relatively sluggish, so it does not expend energy unnecessarily. Intruders who flee a basilisk rather than fight can expect, at best, a halfhearted pursuit. These creatures tend to spend most of their time lying in wait for prey, which includes small mammals, birds, reptiles, and similar creatures.

Petrifying Gaze (SU: Charm 4/Gen 4)
Strong Daze effect, range 30 feet, duration 1 hour; Fortitude DC 14 partial. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Natural Camouflage
The basilisk’s dull coloration and its ability to remain motionless for long periods of time grant it a +4 racial bonus on Sneak checks in natural settings.

KISS

The constant effort to simplify and speed up combat (while keeping it interesting) continues...

The wargaming/battlemap roots of D&D introduced several concepts that may have outlived their usefulness. Everyone is so concerned about being in this specific position to get a flanking bonus, while keeping this person three spaces away to maximize this feat, etc. - it's too much to worry about.

This really was made evident recently when discussing rules from Mutants and Masterminds, second edition. The guys running the game (Two GMs) are having trouble dealing with super-speedsters (really, any super movement) because the character can go on and off map at will, especially with move-by attack.

The thing to keep in mind with M&M (and other games) is that movement doesn't have to be tactical for everyone. Slow characters may need the board, but fast ones are more conceptual than tactical. A lot of the problems they're having could be solved creatively, such as an opponent taking a readied action or having a rival super-speeder who can walk up and attack just as easily as the counterpart.

This gets to specific combat modifiers. These can go overboard, with tables and tables of modifiers. Right now I have three primary sets of modifiers "outside" of a character (meaning a character may have modifiers specific to himself).

Concealment, Cover, and Advantage. Concealment, obviously, is when something cannot be seen clearly. The base mechanic for concealment is a percentage chance to miss, which I loathe. It's an ad hoc mechanic thrown on to the end. The base d20 roll is a percentile (each number is 5% - duh) - so if you have a 20% miss chance for partial concealment, why not just add a +4 to the target defense? Since critical hits are tied into a degree of success mechanic, this makes that +4 very important.

Here are my (current) rules for all three conditions:

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COVER
If there is any object between your character and a source of attack, you can gain a degree of cover. There are many types of cover available: light cover, heavy cover, soft cover, and total cover.

Light cover can be anything that partially obstructs you from your target, from 10% to 50%. It provides you with a +4 bonus to Defense and a +2 bonus to Reflex saves from attacks on the opposite side of the cover.

Heavy cover is anything above 50% and provides you with a +8 bonus to Defense and a +4 bonus to Reflex saves from attacks on the opposite side of the cover. Heavy cover also grants the Improved Evasion ability while you’re protected, meaning that any failed saving throw only does half damage. Heavy cover also grants a +10 bonus to Sneak checks.

Soft cover only applies to ranged attacks, granting a +4 bonus to defense only when any non-adjacent creature is between you and your attacker or if you are in melee combat. Precise Shot negates the penalty for soft cover.

Total Cover is 100% coverage and means you cannot be attacked through the cover at all.

CONCEALMENT
If a target is hidden or distorted, it makes attacking more difficult. Much like Cover, there are several levels of Concealment.

Light Concealment, such as being behind branches or being in dim light, gives a defender a +4 bonus to Defense against ranged attacks and a +5 bonus to the Sneak skill.

Heavy Concealment, such as being in smoke, fog, or darkness, gives a defender a +8 bonus to Defense against ranged attacks and a +4 bonus to Defense against melee attacks. The defender also gets a +10 bonus to the Sneak skill.

Total Concealment, such as being in total darkness or invisible, makes the target even more difficult to find. If an attacker can make an opposed Perception check versus the defender’s Stealth, he may attack with a chance of success. If the concealed creature attacks or otherwise does something to announce its presence, the affected creatures gain a +20 bonus to the perception check against the concealed target on their next action. A totally concealed defender gets a +8 bonus to Defense and a +20 bonus to the Sneak skill.

ADVANTAGE
There are several miscellaneous modifiers that affect combat checks.

The Outnumbered advantage means when a character is trying to fend off more than one attacker. Attackers get a +2 bonus to hit when fighting an outnumbered opponent.

The Unaware advantage means the character does not know an attack is coming. An unaware character is considered flat-footed against the unknown threat until an attack is made or the threat is realized.

Higher Ground, such as being mounted or standing above a prone adversary, provides a +2 bonus to attack and a +2 bonus to damage.